Jody Craddock admits Sunderland's slide down the Premiership table has begun to take its toll on his life away from the Stadium of Light.

But the Black Cats defender has moved to reassure anxious fans that Howard Wilkinson's players are fully committed to keeping the club in the top flight, despite having collected just one point since the turn of the year.

Sunderland will travel to Loftus Road to take on Fulham tomorrow rooted to the foot of the Premiership standings, having failed to win a league game since December 15.

And Craddock last night revealed the ongoing struggle to drag the club clear of relegation trouble has made life on Wearside an uncomfortable proposition for the under-pressure players.

"It isn't very nice when you go to put some petrol in your car and someone is giving you stick about what is happening at the club," said the 27-year-old who, despite being Sunderland's reigning Player of the Year, has not escaped criticism in recent weeks.

"This is a difficult time for everyone. The fans are disappointed, the players are disappointed. But I suppose that getting stick is understandable, it comes with the job and we just have to take it on the chin.

"I don't want to lose any game I play and it's exactly the same for the rest of the players. It's just as disappointing for us when we lose as it is for everyone else. Nobody wants to be where we are.

"We work hard in training, we don't just come in and stand around and have a joke - we are all committed and it hurts when people say that we are not. We're giving it everything, whether it looks like that or not. We don't want to go down."

Sunderland's 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough six days ago was the club's fifth straight loss in league football and the Black Cats are now seven points short of safety.

With 10 games remaining, Wilkinson admits tomorrow's trip to Fulham is a match his side can scarcely afford to lose if they are to stand any chance of preserving their Premiership status.

But the pressure is starting to mount on a squad of players who have won just four league games all season - with Craddock under no illusions about what is at stake in the weeks which lie ahead.

"There is heavy pressure on us, we are playing for survival," he added. "No disrespect to the clubs down there now but we don't want to play in the First Division.

"The pressure on us does not help. If we were sitting comfortably in the middle of the table there would be no pressure and we would be able to go out there with confidence.

"It's a lot different when you are at the bottom of the league and, unless you have actually been out on a pitch and experienced these circumstances, it's hard to understand what it's like.

"We can only look at the games as they come, nobody's looking at relegation. There are still a lot of games to play and a lot of points to be won."

* CLAUDIO Reyna's comeback has been put on hold, with Wilkinson confirming that the American will not feature for the Black Cats again this season.

The midfielder, who suffered a serious knee injury in October, had been hoping to return in the closing weeks of the campaign but has now been told to concentrate on getting himself fit for next season.

"Claudio not playing again this season was always a probability," said Wilkinson.

"It is a big disappointment for him and for me.

"But when the injury was initially diagnosed I always felt it would be next season before he was back."